Myanmar

Squatters refuse to go as eviction date looms

Published in Monday February 17th, 2014 In In the media

The notice warned that those who do not comply with the order could face one month in prison under section 21(1) of the Lower Burma Town and Village Lands Act. They will even be charged by the authorities for the cost of demolishing their homes, the notice said.

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Forced evictions to continue in Dagon

Published in Wednesday February 12th, 2014 In In the media

Up to 80,000 shantytown-dwellers in Rangoon’s Dagon Port Township — one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the former capital — have been declared illegal squatters and face eviction.

Forced eviction leaves hundreds homeless in Yangon Region village

Published in Thursday February 6th, 2014 In In the media

The residents of Tha Mee Lay village in Hlegu Township said bulldozers began destroying their homes early on February 4 in an operation that also involved about 2,000 government officials.

Land Rights and Ethnic Conflict in Burma

Published in Monday May 13th, 2013

Burma is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse countries. Ethnic minorities make up an estimated 30-40 percent of the total population, and ethnic states occupy some 57 percent of the total land area and are home to poor and often persecuted ethnic minority groups. Most of the people living in these impoverished and war-torn areas are subsistence farmers practicing upland cultivation. Economic grievances have played a central part in fuelling the civil war. While the central government has been systematically exploiting the natural resources of these areas, the money earned has not been (re)invested to benefit the local population.

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Property and the Lady

Published in Friday May 10th, 2013 In In the media

THE halo has slipped from Aung San Suu Kyi’s head, at least in the eyes of the monks and villagers of Ah Lay Daw. The Nobel peace prizewinner, who has resumed her career as a working politician in Myanmar, dismayed villagers earlier this month by giving her backing to the development of a copper mine on nearby Letpadaung Mountain, on land that was confiscated from them by the government.

Rebuilding the community of Meiktila, in Myanmar

Published in Wednesday April 24th, 2013 In In the media

After sectarian violence in the central Myanmar city of Meiktila, officials are working hard on reconstruction plans. The riots in March pitted Buddhists against Muslims, leaving dozens dead and a community in ruins. As you walk through the neighborhoods of Meiktila, it’s hard to escape the damage. A month after the violence here, burnt-down houses, destroyed businesses and torched cars dot the streetscape.

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Myanmar’s ‘worrying’ transition

Published in Monday March 18th, 2013 In Opinion

Myanmar’s icon of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, has let down people protesting for land rights, saying she wasn’t in politics for popularity. Scott Leckie, director of the Switzerland-based NGO Displacement Solutions, has worked on Myanmar’s human rights issues for more than 25 years and tells DW about the country’s concerning developments.

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